Featured Independent- ARTISTS – GiGS – MUSIC

Darling Waste has broken into the indie music scene with singles â€œChanging of the Seasonsâ€ and â€œThe Insignificants.â€ The indie was featured on MTV, VH1, SHOWTIME and in Miramax distributed movies before self-releasing I AM BORN in 2009. I AM BORN was re-released in Europe by Yellowfish Music Group who are also releasing the bandâ€™s new album in October.

The indie band is giving away an album, For the Gloomy Guses and Negative Nancies, full of b-sides, covers and live tracks exclusively on Gighive.

The band has been described as an emotionally charged indie rock band with introspective and honest lyrics.

Sho? meaning â€œWhatâ€ in Arabic is an 3 piece original Rock band currently located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The band is sometimes rock, sometimes metal, sometimes punk, sometimes reggae and quite surprisingly good all of the time.

Sho?â€™s journey begin in June 2009 when Zara and Rizal got together and decided to start a band. They found Fabrizio along the way and thus Sho? was born.Â Zara (Portugal) brings to the band her spot-on vocals from years of vocal training to create an ambiance of wonder within her range and presence. Rizal (Malaysia) loves using 6 and 8 string guitars, tube amps as well as a variety of guitar pedals to bring a unique and modern sound to the music. Fabrizio (Italy) delivers a tight bass-backing and gives wonderful body to their music.

Sho? won the â€œRoad to sound cityâ€ competition judged by Gary Dourdan (ex CSI Las Vegas actor and session guitarist) and Kim Thompson (Beyonce session drummer) along side reps from Diesel, Sennheiser and EMI Arabia. Winning the competition allowed Sho? to play in the main stage for the Dubai Sound City festival and be part of Diesel U-music world tour travelling to Vienna, Austria for the show which took place on the 12th of November 2009. Sho? is also active in the Dubai rock scene playing in Rocknation, Metal Asylum among others. Keep listening for more from Sho?

TheBuzz Updates

What is music, but a story, an emotion released to the world. It is passion, it is nostalgia, it is sorrow, joy and exhuberance. Music, to me, is the soundtrack of life. It comes from this deep well that hides within, melodies flowing almost as if they are hanging in stasis, waiting for someone to be their vessel. Music has always been a thread that has woven itself through my life. My mother tells me that I was humming and wordlessly “singing” before I could even speak and to this day I find my days filled with music. Sometimes silly, often whimsical, but always there, music is life.

The Musician

It has been quite a journey. Most people will say to you “I always knew I wanted to be a singer”. Not so for me. I had many dreams growing up and ended up studying psychology in school with the idea that I would end up as a clinical psychologist. Not that music wasn’t important in my life…it sure was! I just never thought I would end up as an aspiring musician. I have always needed music in some way though in my life. My first big purchase (after a house) was a piano, that I put in my little tiny house. That same piano now sits in my living room, and I play it almost every day. At the time I bought it, I just knew I needed to have some kind of music, I wasn’t even singing at that point! When I found my voice, I let my piano sit for a few years, almost untouched, and would practice, and practice voice. Now that I feel some confidence in my voice, I feel this need to round out my musical experiences. I sing almost every day, play the piano almost every day, even if just for a few minutes, and then try to pick up my violin now and again. Oh, and I am also learning how to play harp.

TheBuzz Updates

Lynn has been described more than once as “Superwoman” of the sax. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised outside of Philadelphia, Pa., she received a B. A. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Hawaii. Her time spent in Hawaii was influential in developing her sensibility to, and awareness of, different musical cultures.

She continued her musical studies at the University of Missouri Kansas City, studied privately with Doris Sellers (principal flutist of the Kansas City Symphony), and immersed in its rich jazz tradition, apprenticed and performed with many of KC’s jazz legends. She became involved with the Women’s Jazz Festival, an international festival highlighting women musicians. There she had the opportunity to play with luminaries like Carmen McRae, Marian McPartland, Shirley Scott, Emily Remner and Blossom Dearie. After 5 years on the Board of Directors, she headed back east.

Since returning to Philadelphia, Lynn has performed with many great artists like Grover Washington Jr., Philly Joe Jones, David Bromberg, Rachelle Farrell, Charles Earland, Gerald Veasley, David Murray and Johnny Pacheco, as well as leading her own groups. She was chosen to perform at the Painted Bride Arts Center for their series Women Leaders in Jazz in 2000. She has opened for artists such as Najee, Spyro Gyra, Nelson Rangell, Nester Torres, Andy Narell, the Indigo Girls, Brenda K Star, the Mahotella Queens and Compai Segundo of the Buena Vista Club. She has performed throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean. Touring with diverse groups such as Sharon Katz and the Peace Train (”the South African band that rocks”), Ellas y Amigos (Funky Caribbean Latin Jazz) and FVC (Motown to Miles) has introduced new audiences to Lynn’s playing and gained her enthusiastic fans worldwide.

More recently Lynn has been expanding her composing vocabulary and style by traveling and performing in countries such as Cuba,
South Africa, Bolivia and Brazil. This multi cultural exposure gives Lynn’s music a unique traditional ethnic sound blended with her original ideas and jazz roots, culminating in a funky accessible world influenced mix.

She received a Window of Opportunity grant from the Leeway Foundation in 2004. Her proficiency has been recognized by the Trane Stop Resource Institute, which presented her with an award acknowledging her contribution in preserving and promoting Afro-American Classical Music. Lynn has been on the faculty of the Performing Arts Department of Drexel University since 1998 and she is the Artist in Residence for Opera Seabrook’s 2008-09 seasaon.

Collaboration with long time friend, and co-band member Rubin Edwards has generated many magical musical moments, from riveting live performances to beautiful compositions to production of Lynn’s new album Too Cool.

His masterful mix of sounds and grooves is the memorable variable that makes flutist Dwayne Kerr, of the Erykah Badu Band (Neda Stela), a rising figure in contemporary music today. Playing an instrument that traditionally has been heard more often than seen, Kerr has put the flute up front on display with his unique playing style in his debut CD, Flutation, which was released on DManns Records in January 2003. His latest CD, Higher Calling, is a maturation of an artist that has evolved over several years in both the live setting and in the studio.

Kerr was hired to play as a band member for Grammy Award-winning Erykah Badu in 1998. While touring with Erykah, Dwayne has played in Africa, Italy, Japan, throughout Europe and Scandinavia, on the all-female artists Lilith Fair Tour and television appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, MTVâ€™s Real World, The Oprah Show, Live! With Regis and BET Live.

While touring and recording with Erykah Badu for the past several years, Dwayne added his sound to recordings including Ms. Baduâ€™s version of the Chaka Khan hit, â€œHollywood,â€ which is on the soundtrack/CD to the Spike Lee movie, Bamboozled, on Motown Records and Erykahâ€™s song, â€œToday,â€ which is on the Red Star Sounds compilation CD on Epic Records. Kerr played on Erykahâ€™s latest CD, Worldwide Underground, and her previous CD, Mamaâ€™s Gun, on Motown Records.

Raised and still residing on Long Island, New York, Kerr attended New York colleges Nassau Community College, SUNY-Stony Brook and SUNY-Old Westbury, where he was trained classically and in jazz. Kerr is a brilliant flutist who is moving the flute into other genres of music not often explored. Connecting with the audience both in a live setting and on recordings is a trait well-respected by others in the industry. â€œI’ve seen Dwayne inspire many people all over the world with his sound,â€ said RC Williams, Producer/co-songwriter Higher Calling and Producer/Songwriter/MD for Erykah Badu.

A by-product of his ascending career, Kerr signed a deal with AKG Acoustics in 2001 to endorse an AKG wireless headset system. When not touring with Ms. Badu, Kerr is active in his venture as a solo artist, most notable having performed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the Jazz & Broadway Concert at the United Nations and at halftime of several National Basketball Association games. Dwayne has performed on shows with or opened shows for Erykah Badu, Regina Belle, Roy Hargrove, Marion Meadows, Stephanie Mills, Vanessa Rubin and other noted artists.
â€œAs I watch my friend in amazement,â€ Erykah said of Dwayne, â€œthe high tones and the trills become part of me, helping me to grow on stage. I donâ€™t know which is sweeter, his tone or his soul.â€

His latest release, which features a stellar cast to include Erykah, Kirk Whalum and more, is indeed a new chapter in the life of this astounding artist. The making of the project was an organic process that evolved into a musical diary of the musicians involved.
Jeff Feinstein, producer & keys, said, â€œI think I could write a novel on my experiences with Dwayne and “the cast” of Higher Calling. The most important chapter would be on how much your work can intertwine with life, love and believing in yourself. To me, working on the project represented strong earthly proof of why not to give up on my dreams and God…no matter what.â€

TheBuzz Updates

Iâ€™m an illustrator. I draw. I design. I create. I challenge myself with ideas. I pray.

I am an artist.

Iâ€™m part city slicker, â€œCheese headâ€, and a bit sheltered, all at the same time. Seems in everyway, my simple upbringing worked to my artistic benefit. My suburban public education was a majestic blessing in that the schools could afford to â€œfeedâ€ its hungry artists, and well, I might say. And since kindergarten, Iâ€™ve unabashedly devoured construction paper on projects and drawings every chance I got, and the teachers loved it! Theyâ€™d offer space- and I drew on it! I think it was a fair trade because I truly cherished every crispy, white sheet and they loved the idea that there jobs were actually â€œmaking a differenceâ€. They were. Yeah… I recall them emerging from kid-restricted corridors with extra large sheetsÂ that pure white, cardboard paper and Iâ€™d half-way spoil on myself thinking of the dramatic and colorful Spider-Man pose I would etch outâ€“ providing, that endless supply of government funded, crayons and markers!

It was something about blank paper that was magic to me. On it, I could create whatever I wanted. A fascinating idea, I thought. Overtime, there was hardly a book in our house that I had not torn away â€œuntarnishedâ€ introductory and closing pages to concoct my newest ideas. (I didnâ€™t become interested in actually reading books â€˜til high school.) Funny, I wasnâ€™t even aware of actual art supply stores and the now ever-present white printer paper had not yet even been invented – so books became my â€œcrackâ€. (Today I cringe at the idea of my own daughter doing the same thing, so I buy her plenty of paper -she, like my wife, has the â€˜projectâ€ gene.)

In under a year, Boston’s The New Collisions have gone from an unknown club band to one of the northeast’s fastest-rising acts. Fronted by platinum-blonde 23 year-old Sarah Guild, they are fresh off a national summer tour with The B-52s and Blondie and a national fall tour. The debut EP, Invisible Embraces, was just released to rave reviews.

The story is unusual. Greg Hawkes, the legendary keyboard player from The Cars, caught one of the band’s first shows during the winter. Over the spring, the band worked with Hawkes and with platinum-selling producer Anthony Resta (Duran Duran, Missing Persons), another early fan, on its first recordings.

The result speaks for itself. Influences from the New Wave explosion of ‘77-’83, plus the early 60s of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson, meet modern, dancey, intense rock. There are powerful female vocals, jagged analog synth, sweeping harmonies, and a message of lost youth in a world falling apart.

Suddenly a three-month-old band was selling out large clubs in Boston. The first tracks garnered full pages in The Boston Globe, The Boston Phoenix, and The Boston Herald. “The sassy party of The New Collisions,” wrote The Phoenix, “has fallen into place so well it’s actually kind of fucked up.” “If there is another New Wave revival,” said The Herald, “credit The New Collisions and electric frontwoman Sarah Guild. She looks like a star waiting to happen.”

It wasn’t long before an offer came for a summer tour: The B-52s had chosen The New Collisions as their support act. Soon another offer came: Blondie–the band’s number one influence–asked The New Collisions to be direct support at an upcoming show. A national fall tour followed shortly after.

At CMJ 2009, New York Magazine chose the band as a Top Ten Act, and This Week in New York named them their favorite act of the festival. Greg Hawkes also joins the band band live, most recently at the Invisible Embraces EP Release at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge (videos to the left).

The band will be featured soon in URB, The New York Post, College Music Journal, Fearless Music, and many more. Touring and recording will continue relentlessly, as The New Collisions conquer the world, one dance floor at a time…

TheBuzz Updates

In 2001, a photo assistant named Alex Dezen asked a couple friends to record a few songs with him. Shortly thereafter they would form the Brooklyn based rock band THE DAMNWELLS. Two years later they had toured the country, opened for rock legends, and had a song featured in a major motion picture. By 2004, they had signed a major record deal with EPIC Records (Sony/BMG).

In March of 2005, THE DAMNWELLS went into the studio to record their first professional album. For six months, THE DAMNWELLS immersed themselves in preproduction, recording, and mixing. But as months passed, their release date was moved further and further away. In January of 2006, lead singer Alex Dezen received a call they never expected. The band was being released from their contract and the fate of the album was unknown. For the moment, it would sit on a shelf at EPIC Records and collect dust.

THE DAMNWELLS, who had previously recorded their albums in a storage space and their apartments, were not used to waiting. They had been in complete control of their music and their lives before they signed on the dotted line. Now, a year of their lives was sitting on a shelf waiting to be heard.

Will the band break up, will they go their separate ways, or will they take back their future?

Matthew Ryan grew up Â just south of Philadelphia in Chester, PA. He recently bought a house on a hill in Tennessee. His early loves and influences were The Clash, Doc Martens, The Replacements, MLK, Paul Buchanan’s voice, blonde hair & Bob Dylan. He learned to play guitar when he was 17. Frustrated he couldn’t learn other people’s songs, he started writing his own soon after. His songs tend to be about girls, socio-political issues, people on the edges, breakups, brotherhood, hate, love, fighters and hope. Sometimes all in the same song. He prefers to think of them as songs for humans. He’s released 10 records since his first record, May Day, was released in 1997.

Ten Year Vamp is a female fronted, high energy, modern radio rock band with pints full of personality, charm, and sex appeal. Theyâ€™ve been described as the next No Doubt, and have won numerous local, regional, and National awards. Ten Year Vamp has sold thousands of CDs… even landed on the Billboard Charts, and have performed 2-4 shows a week for the past 6 years.

â€œWhile Iâ€™m a â€˜girly girlâ€™ in the sense that I like to do my hair and wear makeup and look pretty, I never degrade myself. My sex appeal is a result of the raw confidence I have insideâ€”and Iâ€™ve earned that.â€ Debbie Gabrione says with a self-assuredness that you have to admire. Sheâ€™s the bold lead singer of Ten Year Vamp, a power pop band with energy to spare. Imagine Foo Fighters meets Green Day with Gwen Stefani on vocals and you have an idea of their sound.